The Stettler Triathlon recorded the largest number of participants this year with 127 taking part as both youth and adults joined in to make the triathlon a success on Sunday, July 17 at the Stettler Recreation Centre.
With people from different communities such as Edmonton, Calgary, Lacombe and Camrose all coming down to race, the town had a festival outlook as families waited patiently on grass banks and sidewalks cheering their loved ones.
The triathlon ran successfully from 2009 to 2012, and had a new lease of life in 2015 when Joel Norman, race director and CJ Oprea, assistant race director took over as organizers.
Norman has done over 20 triathlon in the past seven years in Alberta and wanted to have an event in Stettler, which would allow central Alberta participants a great small town race.
“The feedback from the participants has been amazing and people were very impressed with our town’s recreation facility, the number of volunteers that we had engaged and the multiple sponsors for the event,” said Oprea. “The Stettler community support was amazing and many had travelled to Stettler for the first time from around the province.”
According to Oprea, there are always a few small things to learn each year.
“Overall we are very happy with our course and setup that we have now,” she said. “We do want to find a way to get more local people to try the sport and realize what a fun experience it can be for people of different athletic capabilities, but without a strong supportive community events like this cannot run, so we’d like to thank all our sponsors especially.”
Stettler resident Tricia Wagner, who ran the triathlon and also got her nine-year-old son to take part said, “When I turned 40 last year, I made a vow to do something every year that scares and challenges me, so this year at 41 I decided to do a triathlon, I trained for a month locally and had a lot of support from friends and family.”
Wagner said that she had unique adventures along the way, “My meditation bead bracelet broke on the deck of the pool, I started swimming without my goggles on, half way through my 10-km bike my cushion for my bike seat fell off and on the last leg of my run I was chased by geese, but it was all amazing.”
Wagner wishes to do it again next year.
“Crossing the finish line and knowing I did this for me was such an amazing feeling,” added Wagner. “But what was even great was to watch my son push himself and achieve his goal, am proud of us both.”